I live in the suburbs about 3 blocks away from a Walgreens. When I need to refill a prescription or pick up something small I like to walk there to get it. I pass literally hundreds of people in cars on that short walk. Maybe once a year will I see another person walking. I’m always very careful crossing the street around here because pedestrians are so rare. I have a feeling many drivers are oblivious to anything without tail lights.

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I think you are absolutely right about drivers being oblivious to anything without headlights. I too walk everywhere (I have no car at the moment). When I would do this in California, I would get hit by a car biannualy. Once my bike got hit and run and the frame bent (though I was fine). Another time I got hit and run by a minivan and left with a broken ankle. The police wanted ME to go down tot he station to fill out a report. I have been yelled at by cops to get on the sidewalk when there in fact was no sidewalk available.
Here in New Mexico where the speed limits are 35mph, I haven’t been even close to getting hit once.

When I lived in Chicago I loved walking the mile to the beach from apartment. in the winter sometimes walking was to only to get anywhere because my car was buried between 2 bigger cars and under a foot of snow.
When I moved to LA I tried walking through a few Beverly Hills neighborhoods and was stared at by the homeowners/domestic help like they thought I was nuts or planning a robbery. I gave up.
Now, in Atlanta, I drive everywhere, if I want fresh air I put the top down while I drive and I go to the gym for exercise.

I know what you mean. For a time, I lived in an up scale neighborhood in the middle of the desert. Admittedly, no one (but me) walked there, everyone was rich enough to have cars, but my roommates and I lived off of the airport.
It is really quite annoying to be dressed in business casual attire and stopped by the cops three days in a row at 4:30 in the afternoon. Walking is suspicious now, good to know. I suppose I was guilty of violating the public ordinance against perspiration in public.
I had to draw the line when I was ordered to sit on the sidewalk. Do you know how hot that thing is on an afternoon when the temperature is 120F?

I went about 14 years without a driver’s license, walking and biking everywhere. It amazed me to see how many drivers have no idea what to do about a pedestrian waiting to cross the street. For example:

When crossing where there’s no intersection (like on a rural road: Either come to a complete stop and let me cross in front of you, or maintain your speed and let me cross behind you. Simply slowing down just creates more problems. I was probably timing your approach so that I could cross after you passed, but since you slowed down all you’ve accomplished is you’ve let the cars behind you close the gap and now I have to also wait for the *them* to pass too.

If I’m standing at an intersection and you have a green light, KEEP GOING! I’ll wait. Seriously, I’ve had people come to a screeching halt at green lights and wave me across. No, sorry, this is a 3-lane, one-way street, and just because you’ve stopped doesn’t mean the traffic in the other two lanes is stopping.

You may remember from previous posts that I walk everywhere. Some drivers think it’s funny to swerve towards me as they pass. One time a country hick tried this at an intersection as the lights turned red. I stood on the corner next to his truck, staring in the window and smiling. He looked nervous by the time the lights let him go. :3

I live in an Bucharest, so I don’t have a car. I walk or use public transport to get around (I bike occasionally, but I find it far less stressful to simply read a book on the underground than having to pay attention to city traffic) and so do lots of other people, because it’s also quicker than driving.

When I was in the US I lived for a bit in rural Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. One day I decided to go to a store which was some two miles away which for me was nothing in terms of walking distance (I’m also army reserve, so we do occasional 50+ km marches in order to keep our training), yet about halfway a police car stopped to ask wherever I was in need of assistance and they wouldn’t believe that someone would choose to walk. They thought I was some kind of weirdo and I’m sure they checked through the rulebook twice just to see wherever there was in fact a law I was breaking…

Also, I was run of the road by cars while biking three times – twice in the Colorado rockies by cars driving too close to the edge of the road and once in California when the the passenger of an SUV threw an empty soda bottle at my head as a “joke” while they were passing me on a steep San Diego street. Luckily I wasn’t injured, but in neither case did the driver as much as slow down. Ah, and the second incident, involving a school bus, of all things, completely destroyed my front wheel.

Alan Watts once talked about walking in Beverly Hills as being a ‘stop and frisk’ offense to the sensibilities of the cops there.
In Altadena, there is a sensible rule (where not every street, or all of it, has those ‘really wide curbs’) that you walk facing traffic. These electrics and hybrids can sneak up on you, they’re so quiet. I used to drive several miles down to the Rose Bowl, to walk the three-mile circuit around the golf course with the guys, but so many walkers and runners went with their backs to traffic, I got tired of trying to warn them. The signs they put up made NO difference. And around here, the death rate for bikes-vs-cars is higher than many places; with $4.00-5.00 gas (per gallon), many more people are getting out their bikes, so we need to figure out how to separate the two. I know we’re kinda spoiled with the petroleum subsidies, vs. Europe, but it’s like that for now, until we get smarter.

In the UK it’s $9/gallon and the insurance for under 21 or 25 or so is extortionate. Needless to say, I walk everywhere where I’m not going with someone who’s driving (most of the time) and will only take the bus if a) I *must* go and the weather is atrocious, b) I’m late, or c) I’ve tried the walk before and it’s going to kill me.